Whistle While You Walk
by DetectiveLion
Summary: It's been a few years since Leo 'died' in the battle with Gaea. His friends all think he's dead, he's stuck in college where there may or may not be monsters in every corner, and a certain creepy child of death seems to be in the same university as him. All things considered, life could be worse.


Before heading out to class for the day, Leo decided to reflect that he was almost through his first week of college and not a single thing had blown up.

Greenrock University wasn't one of the 'go-to' colleges, not well-known like Stanford or prestigious like Harvard. It _did_ have a decent engineering program, though, and Leo got a full-ride scholarship so long as he kept his grades up. And didn't cause any explosions, which hadn't been specified but was probably assumed to be included in the terms. He even got his own dorm, and wouldn't have to deal with a roommate until more kids came in next semester.

Life was good. Everyone he knew thought he'd died years ago and he was working for scraps in an unpopular machine shop, but it really wasn't the worst thing that had happened to him.

"Wish me luck," Leo called from the door. Festus lifted his head, whirring his teeth in farewell before curling up and letting his eyes go dim. His new chassis reduced him to the size of a house cat, and left him looking like nothing more unordinary than a decorative piece when he slept. Festus 3.0: fun-sized edition.

It was a brief walk through the campus to get to his first class, along a sidewalk paved through the neatly-trimmed lawn. Those that didn't have class were lounging on the grass, congregating in groups or couples with a few loners scattered throughout. Palm trees had been planted to complete the 'authentic Californian' look and swayed in the coastal breeze. The smell of the ocean was a nostalgic one, memories of his friends and battles and that one time Jason knocked out all the lights and Percy made the toilets explode in his surprise. Leo had been the one to fix it of course.

He was apart of the final stragglers filing into class, settling into a seat in the middle of the rows. Leo had learned something valuable in his many schools: sitting up front got you noticed, sitting in the back got you watched. But the middle? He would blend in until he drew attention to himself, and that was exactly how he wanted it.

So it came as more than a bit of a surprise when Mr. Abbot called his attention and declared that he would "like to see you when you have the time, Mr. Valdez."

A few of his neighbors gave him looks, most not really caring, but Leo only sat in his seat, perplexed.

Mr. Abbot was a tall man who seemed far too muscular to be a college professor, with sharp, dark eyes and long hair that stuck out like a lion's mane. Not once had he given any indication that he even knew of Leo's existence.

He was left to mull it over all through the lesson, and then the next, up until his lunch hour when he finally knocked on the door and stepped inside Mr. Abbot's empty classroom.

"Um," he started, "You said you wanted to talk to me? I mean, who wouldn't?" Leo tried for a grin, which died under a dry stare.

"I did." The man spoke in a clipped, low voice that made Leo feel nervous. It was the voice all administrators had gotten when they were about to suspend him, or assign him to trash clean-up for the month. He reached into his pocket to search for copper wires and began twisting them around his fingers. Mr. Abbot continued, "You've been quiet in class."

Leo tweaked a wire. "Yeah, I was sort of surprised you even knew my name."

The man's demeanor did a flip. Suddenly he relaxed, giving Leo a soft smile and speaking in a light tone. "You have a gift," he stated, which made Leo blink and stare. "You're an engineering major, right? Though these years you're only fulfilling your basic classes, I can sniff out talent like yours the moment it comes in the room. Why be so quiet in a class you were born to take?"

A small grin bloomed on Leo's face, and he straightened up.. "My dad's an inventor. I guess I managed to inherit some of his talent... but, uh, I guess I'm pretty used to trying to lay low at this point." He grimaced.

Abbot nodded slowly. "Yes, that is often the case. Your kind try to slip under the radar, but as I said... I can _always_ sniff them out." As he spoke, something flickered in Leo's vision. His eyes turned towards it, watching Abbot's shadow as it seemed to twitch.

That was what saved him. The shadow jolted, and Leo jumped. Something zipped past him, slicing into his arm and sending a flare of pain through the cut..

He clenched his jaw tight, clutching his arm and stumbling back into the wall. The shadow lurched again, a striking movement that had Leo moving just in time to avoid being impaled. A thin spike, about as long as a finger and dripping with green ooze, was embedded in the wall where his torso had been a second before. He looked up to Mr. Abbot, and immediately felt his stomach drop.

Really, Leo should have expected that at least one of his teachers would want to devour him.

Abbot had sprouted wings, great leathery things that spread wide. A tail, like a scorpion's, had manifested, and his entire body was shifting and changing, fur sprouting and fingers growing into thick paws until the only human thing left about him was his face. The rest looked like something out of a taxidermist's fever dream. Body of a lion, tail of a scorpion, face of a human; Mr. Abbot was a manticore.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Leo sputtered. "You couldn't have waited one day? I can't even go one week without being attacked?"

Abbot didn't reply, a shrill whistle emitting from his throat as his tail thrashed dangerously behind him.

Which reminded Leo, his arm was currently in agony. He willed his hands to ignite, but only got a warm feeling in his palms. Not even a lick of fire. The attempt only made the pain in his arm get worse-either the poison was countering his fire abilities or he couldn't concentrate with the pain. Regardless, his fire wasn't working, he had no toolbelt, and Festus was currently the world's most high-tech decorative statue.

The manticore whistled angrily, and Leo ran.

* * *

Abbot caught him outside the cafeteria. His large paws stuck Leo from behind, and suddenly he was belly-down on the ground with a drooling manticore over him. He could feel hot breath on his neck. Within a few seconds he would feel teeth digging in, and then, probably, nothing.

Then the door opened, a voice saying, "Seriously, what the _fuck_ Janice," before stopping short.

The manticore paused with his teeth pressed against the back of Leo's neck. It was enough of a distraction to work-Leo got his foot up in the lion's equivalent of a soft spot and Abbot all but flung himself back. A scream and painful chiming followed Leo through the cafeteria doors. Abbot recovered quickly, though, giving chase into the middle of at least a hundred students at lunch.

One person screamed and the rest joined in, and the cafeteria was a riot in seconds. People bolted for the doors, a few running backwards with their phones out. Leo figured that was going to be on the news: College Professor Eats Student Alive in Front of Hundreds of Traumatized Spectators. Then Abbot gave a roar and even the assholes trying to record his death scattered.

He scrambled over a table, dropping just as the manticore pounced clean over it. Abbot landed on top of another, getting his paws in some mashed potatoes. Personally Leo would say that those would taste better than his flesh, but apparently Abbot didn't agree. He jumped down, prowling closer to Leo. Some pawprint-shaped potatoes were left in his wake. Abbot crouched, haunches bunching, ready to pounce. Then he was hit in the face with a piece of chicken.

"Hey!" Both Leo's and Abbot's heads swiveled towards the call. Another boy was standing a few feet away, wielding chicken strips like daggers.

Abbot gave a noisy sniff. His head lifted, ears pricking with interest. "I think I'll eat you first," he growled, "and maybe I'll save the son of Hephaestus for a midnight snack."

Leo couldn't help feeling a little indignant, snapping, "Okay so I don't come with chicken fingers, but I have to at least be worthy of being dinner, right?" The manticore ignored him in favor of creeping closer to the other boy. Okay, yeah, that was a blow to his pride. You'd think that monsters would consider the person who literally blew up the Earth Mother to be first priority when it came to meal choices.

"Focus!" The boy snapped. Then Abbot lunged and he fell silent as he dodged around some tables. Leo darted forward, not really sure what he was supposed to be doing but currently going with 'not get eaten'. As he watched, the boy withdrew a dark-bladed sword from a sheath at his side. The manticore faltered for only a second. Then the kid went to strike, just as Leo watched Abbot's mouth twitch into a smirk.

"Wait!" He yelled, but a golden paw had already swiped the sword right out of the boy's hands. It clattered several feet away.

The boy went next, flung away by another blow and hitting the ground harshly. Abbot whistled with triumph before springing after his prey.

Leo sprang onto a table, leaping from one to another to get to the fallen sword. His hand closed around the hilt just as there was a loud cry from behind. The other boy had to use all his strength to keep Abbot's face away with only his hands, and it wasn't working well. The manticore's snarls grew louder. "Stay still!" he demanded.

"You're trying to _eat_ me!"

"Exactly!"

It gave Leo enough time to scramble towards them. The boy's strength was faltering, not nearly enough to keep a lion back for long. His eyes were wide as they locked with Leo's, a desperate fear in them.

"Hey, Abbot!" He searched for a good insult. "Your mother eats meow-mix!"

The manticore's head shot up, indignant, and Leo hit him in the face with the flat side of the sword. He tumbled away from his prey, and the boy hurried to his feet. "Give me that!" He said, snatching the blade from Leo. Abbot had just enough time to open his dazed eyes before a sword was plunged into his flank.

A low, tinny sound left his mouth, like a bad note on a flute. Then, starting from the sword and spreading out, he began to crumble to dust until only a heap of yellow powder remained.

Leo stared at the pile, he and the boy both panting as it was swept away by an intangible wind.

A small laugh escaped Leo. He breathed, "I've had closer calls but _man_ that's a rush. Thanks for the save back there, uh..."

He locked eyes with the boy, whose brow was knitted. The face was familiar, something about the dark brown eyes and messy hair that struck a chord in Leo's mind.

"L..." The boy hesitated before saying, "Leo?"

And Leo's eyes went wide as he finally recognized Nico di Angelo.

* * *

"So, um... you don't seem very surprised."

They'd relocated to Leo's dorm when the police sirens began to sound, hoping the whole event would be played off as a mountain lion too far from home and be over with. The two of them sat at the counter on a pair of stools, each with an untouched glass of water set before them.

Nico's shoulders lifted in a stiff shrug. "I knew you were still alive," he muttered. "I could sense it."

"Can you now? Fascinating. Uh, so, how is everybody doing?"

The look Nico gave him was hard. He was good at reading between the lines. "I didn't tell them, Leo. That's not my business, even if I did have to watch Hazel mourn for you and keep quiet about it the whole time." His tone grew bitter, and Leo felt the same old urge to duck and hide he'd always gotten around the son of Hades.

The wariness was tempered by a pang of guilty relief. "Oh. Well, thank you. For both stabbing the manticore and not blabbing."

"For the first one? My pleasure." Nico got one of those smiles that made Leo's skin crawl. Though, oddly, he didn't seem as unapproachable as before, like he'd relaxed a bit since they'd last met. "I can't stand manticores," Nico finished. His eyes flicked over to where Festus was currently lapping machine oil and tabasco from a bowl. "So what are you doing here of all places?"

A shrug. "Building a life, I guess. Trying _not_ to attract monsters from every dark alley. Traveling was fun and all but once you nearly get your ass bitten off for the twentieth time, you figure it's time to reevaluate your life choices." Leo leaned against the counter to join Nico in watching Festus. The dragon seemed content with his drink and was pattering over to them, leaping up onto the counter with a beat of his wings and going to climb onto Leo's shoulder. He'd gotten used to having Festus perch there like a parrot. "I managed to get noticed at one of those weird science fair things and got a full-ride scholarship. What about you? Job as the Grim Reaper not working out?"

Nico grimaced. "Everybody wanted me to go to college. Percy didn't say it, but he always gave me these looks and 'discreetly' mentioned how much he enjoys the university in New Rome." He rolled his eyes. "Jason and Hazel seemed to have gotten in on the program. My dad, too."

"The god of dead guys wants you to go to college?"

"God of the Underworld," he corrected. "And yeah. He seems pretty adamant about giving me a normal life. Skeleton chaperone, literal rubies in my college fund, typical mortal stuff."

Leo huffed out a laugh. "Okay, sure. I hope the rubies aren't cursed. Though maybe I wouldn't mind if they went to whatever asshole is charging a hundred dollars for a textbook." He hesitated before asking, "So what the heck are you supposed to be majoring in? I'm really not seeing you going into law school."

Nico's face did a funny twitch as he first glared and then went very pink in the cheeks and ducked his head. He mumbled something.

"What was that?" Leo cupped a hand around his ear.

"...Dance"

Leo paused, giving Nico a once-over. He looked better, taller and with more weight on his bones, skin regaining the color he supposed Nico had lost. He looked-did Leo dare think it?-good. Not mind-blowingly hot or anything, but pleasant to look at with the way his brown eyes turned dark when the light wasn't in them and his shoulders rested without half the tension they'd held years before.

But a dancer? "You don't look like a dancer."

Nico glowered, and Leo wondered if the whole child-of-the-underworld thing automatically meant he should worry about 'if looks could kill.' He hastily continued with, "So are you like pop, classical?" A grin. "Ballet?"

The shoulders went up. Leo gawked at him. "I like it, okay?" Nico spat. "It takes a lot more work than people give it credit for."

He looked ready to either pull out his sword or start crying, so Leo was quick to jump into damage control. "Okay, I get it. Wasn't trying to poke fun." He looked Nico in the eyes as he spoke. "I was just a bit surprised—hey, do you have to wear tights?"

"Leo."

"Is that a yes?"

Nico groaned. That was a yes.

* * *

Okay so real quick, if anyone's wondering about the weird whistle-and-flute noises the manticore made, that's because I looked up some of the myths about manticores and in one it said that people could hear music/whistling when it was around.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it! Valdangelo is a super unappreciated ship. I actually really like this AU, so if anyone wants me to continue it, drop me a request here or at my tumblr (links on my profile). Please please _please_ tell me what you thought of it. Reviews are the lifeblood of writers, they're super inspiring and are what keep me going when I'm editing for the third time at midnight.

Thank you!


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